Spring Fever

As the end of the year draws near, I find that no matter what grade I teach the kids get "senioritis" (including my own personal child). My idea this week is to share an idea and then open this blog up as a forum. We could all use some fresh ideas to survive the end of the school year!

One of my good friends shared with me what she did with her regular education classroom of first graders and I loved it! They were studying plants. Instead of planting the lima bean she took the kids outdoors and they planted a garden. They included vegetables and plants. They took care of their garden everyday. When the plants were ready, they dug them up for a plant sale and used the money for charity. Her students can now tell you all about plants and they learned a wonderful life lesson as well! What a great idea!!!!

I'm a big believer in getting the kids outside as much as possible. Not just for recess, but for teaching. Especially at the end of the school year when the weather is beautiful. I create an outdoor classroom relevant to what they are learning. My second graders are learning about eggs. My co-worker and I are creating an "egg"stravaganza. We are going to have egg experiments, egg races, egg drop, etc. We'll spend the morning outside and having the students participate in activities to culminating our unit. Let's hear some of your tricks of survival...